A Primer on Ugaritic: Language, Culture, and Literature - enenuru

Legal Texts 101
possibility that the guarantors will be left paying the bill. The
translation “If” is probably not strong enough for this text.
“Should” or “when” the person flees, the insurers will pay in full.
The phrase /huwwati tattihu/ parallels the Akkadian phrase ina
maœti sûanˆäti, “in another land,” found in syllabic cuneiform
guarantee documents.
5. /wa.mˆänumme®.sûa}}aœluœma/ and all the investigators
The indefinite pronoun indicates, “whatever, everything, all.”
This common Semitic noun pattern, C1vC2C2aœC3-, signifies
habitual or repetitive actions or, as a substantive, a member of a
profession. Thus, “those who ask regularly,” or, perhaps,
“Investigators.” 3
6. /duœti.tukannuœna/ whatever they might establish
The relative refers to the “whatever” the investigators find.
For two possibilities of the length of the theme vowel in this
form of the middle weak word tknn, see the Hebrew D form N´nwøky in
contrast with the Akkadian formulation ukannuœ. Since both these
East and West Semitic forms seem to use a double C3 and a short
theme vowel when the form has an ending, we have tried to
indicate the same for the Ugaritic verb. This form appears energic.
7. /{aleœ.{urrubaœnˆäma/ against the guarantors
Note that the disadvantage falls against the co-signers.
8. /hinna humuœti/ so, [against] them
This line is unclear. We have interpreted this as the deictic particle,
like the Hebrew h…´nIh, which is used to point something out in a
sentence. It seems to emphasize the persons responsible to make
up the loss.
/humuœti/ isthe third person oblique (i.e., genitive-accusative)
independent personal pronouns. The antecedent is /{urrubaœnˆäma/.
3 Joshua Fox, Semitic Noun Patterns (Winona Lake, 2003), 253.